What’s It Like Living with an Artist?

Launching the Ordinary Life Is Beautiful Series, Life Is a Gift features 30 short, upbeat essays by Carolyn Henderson, manager of Steve Henderson Fine Art. Steve’s paintings illustrate each story. Carolyn talks about her Norwegian Artist, their Progeny, and the rotating assortment of animals on their studio farm. For $2.99, it makes great summer reading by the pool, as long as you don’t drop the e-reader into the water.

The link on the image will take you to Amazon Books, where you  may read the first few chapters of the book for free. Compatible on Kindle, IPad, and IPod. If you do not have any of these devices, you may download an app through Amazon to view the book on your computer.

Making a Million is EZ! EZ! EZ! Yeah, Right.

This article is by Carolyn Henderson, the managing half of Steve Henderson Fine Art. She is a Regular contributing writer for FineArtViews and her  freelance writing appears in regional newspapers, online magazines, and her humor blog, Middle-Aged Plague.

The Norwegian Artist is a brave man.

As I describe in The Multi-Tasking Norwegian, the man “reads” audio books while he paints, and in a move that I can only describe as audacious and bold, he chose one of those Baby, You Can Become a Millionaire in a Breathtakingly Short Time books by one of those authors who makes it to the seven digits by writing books about how to become a millionaire.

“I wanted to see if there was any substance in the content,” the Norwegian told me, when I shuddered.

Over the course of  the day, the Norwegian Artist updated us on what he was hearing, and, so you don’t have to plonk down $20 (the N.A. downloaded his copy from the library — all very legal, I assure you) and enrich these people even more than they are, here is a synopsis of what the Norwegian learned:

1) HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE! I put this in all-caps to fully impart the energetic bounciness of the message. Now there’s nothing wrong with this snippet of common sense — far too many people stop their journey before they put the key in the ignition, convincing themselves that the car will never leave the driveway in the first place.

2) HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE! I repeat this because the Millionaire did, so he must feel that it’s very important.

3) DON’T DRAG YOURSELF DOWN WITH A NEGATIVE ATTITUDE! Hmmm.

4) MOVE FORWARD INTENTIONALLY! I’m not sure about what is happening to the word “intention” these days.  We’re hearing it everyplace, as in, “We sense the need to be intentional in how we account ourselves in this business/ministry/arena/course/relationship.” A college class on Intentional Excellence promises to help students move — with intention — toward a fuller expression of their potential.  (I wonder if Making Millions! Billions! is the text?)

Let’s skip the next 8 chapters and get into the meat — assuming, of course, that this is not a vegan book. Oh, and I’ll drop the caps.  They’re irritating. The exclamation points stay:

5) Make Money in the Comfort of Your Home! This chapter waxed eloquent on the rat-cubicles of the modern office, the annoying boss, the lack of pay, the insecurity of position, the absence of any retirement plan. Noticeably missing was specific information on how to make money in the comfort of your home, in your jammies.

6) Do What You Want to Do, and Let Other People Do the Work for You! This man has a “staff,” kind of like cats do, none of whom, I suspect, is remotely close to being a millionaire. The chapter is a travel log on the various places the author goes and the fun things he does while his staff runs his business. What this business is, we still have no clue, since our Millionaire author apparently does not sell anything — paintings, socks for dogs, widgets — other than his message.

7) Actual Stores in Actual Buildings with Actual Inventory Are Losing Propositions Because No One Can Compete with the Mega Stores! I’ll tell that to our local toy store, yarn store, bookstore, artisan bakery, old fashioned department store, and candy shop — all of whom thrive under the hard work of their creative, energetic, non-millionaire owners. These people make decent, honest livings providing quality products to satisfied customers, and they deserve every penny of profit that they get.

8) Take Advantage of the Internet! Excuse me, but are you feeling condescended to? This chapter, chicken-fried soy steak, advises readers to Promote yourself! Blog! Do the social media thing! Link to other sites! Have them link back to you! My absolute favorite part about this chapter was the Millionaire’s advice on writing quality content: “If you can’t do it yourself, then hire some writer for minimal pay to do it for you. Or better yet, hire someone from overseas.”

Dang. While I wasn’t necessarily planning to become a millionaire as a writer, I did think that I would avoid Debtor’s Prison.

I don’t know how the Norwegian Artist skim reads an audio book, but he managed, and given the content of the book, he must have been running water-soaked brushes over and over the blank canvas as he listened.

He is now contentedly ensconced in a novel about a Polish orphan girl raised by a group of French nuns, while he is painting a still life of Kenyan curios. He says that he feels like a million bucks.
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This article appears courtesy of FineArtViews by FASO Artist Websites,
a free email newsletter about art, marketing, inspiration and fine living for artists,
collectors and galleries (and anyone else who loves art).

This article originally appeared at:
http://faso.com/fineartviews/30743/making-a-million-is-ez-ez-ez-yeah-right

For a complimentary subscription, visit: http://faso.com/art-marketing-newsletter

Chimu, by the Norwegian Artist, Steve Henderson

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Forgetting to Turn off Your Car Lights Is Not the Only Way to Drain Your Battery

by Carolyn Henderson

This article is by Carolyn Henderson, the managing half of Steve Henderson Fine Art. She is a Regular contributing writer for FineArtViews and her  freelance writing appears in regional newspapers, online magazines, and her humor blog, Middle-Aged Plague.

 If you are old enough, or drive an old enough car, it is  likely that you have at one time left the lights blazing away while you devoted an entire winter afternoon to browsing happily through a yarn shop.

Okay, so maybe not a yarn shop. But I’m focusing on the “leaving your lights on for a long time in the middle of arctic winter” part.  By the time you return — animated, energized, laden with packages — your battery’s dead.

So much for animated and energized.

 Under the right — or rather, wrong — conditions, batteries drain quickly, and what can happen in your car can happen to you as well, if you permit people with the wrong way of looking at things to wield too much influence in your life.

 I call them battery drainers — friends, relatives, colleagues, enemies, acquaintances, strangers on the street — in whom you confide your plans and aspirations about being an artist, and who in return deplete the life force from your soul, leaving you feeling listless, without hope, defeated, and scared.

 They’re not always obvious about this —  “Are you kidding? What a stupid idea!” — and actually, most of the time they are, wittingly but generally unwittingly, more subtle, oftentimes expressing a sense of concern and caring that makes your knees hurt and you’re not sure just why.

 There’s such a recession going on now,” one will sigh. “Many established artists are finding that they need to get second or third jobs — I heard of one who was pumping gas.”

 “So sad.”

 Others feel a need to point out to you the painfully obvious, as if, for some reason, you had never thought of it before:

 “So few artists make it to the top you know,” this with a sage nod. “You’re not planning to quit your day job or anything?”

 Or,

 “How wonderful that you won first place in that national show! Of course, you have to realize that this won’t necessarily make you. Lots of people have won prestigious awards and they haven’t fulfilled their desire to be full time artists.”

 I’m sorry — I’m missing something here. Does one of the sub-definitions of “artist” include terms like “naive,” “irresponsible,” “childish,” and “delusional”?

 Years ago, we sold our house in town and moved our family flock to a renovated barn in the middle of untamed land. Our plans were to build a modified timber frame home, which we would pay for as we went along, and pay off the land as well — this, all on one modest income and one whacking quantity of sweat equity.

 We told very few people of our long term plans, and, indeed, many secretly thought that we had totally lost it — but after all, what can you expect of a Norwegian Artist and a Polish Writer? Those poor children of theirs . . . and why did they have so many?

 There was one acquaintance in particular with whom we avoided sharing the . . .  particulars, namely because he made Eeyore look like an optimist. Only when the house was fait accompli and we were all settled in did we mention what we had done:

 That was really risky,” he said, shaking his head and pursing his lips. “You know, if your house isn’t up to code, you’ll never be able to resell it.”

 What is it with these people?

 Through the years, some of the things we have NOT shared with certain people include bicycling to South America, homeschooling the kids, birthing the aforementioned kids at home (with a midwife, okay?), and, most recently, making our livings as an artist (Norwegian) and a writer (Polish).

 As far as the particulars of our business plan, only the Norwegian Artist and I know what we’re up to, and the only other people privy to the details are our progeny, who, having been born and raised with us, share some genetic DNA thing and internalize the concepts of working hard, plugging away, keeping your hopes up, trying new venues and avenues, picking yourself up when you fall down, and celebrating every single little step forward — the girls prefer cake, the boys go for exotic fruit.

 For those out there who think we haven’t thought of this, we do tap into other people’s expertise and experience; we read; we ask questions; we research — we just don’t spill our souls onto the sidewalk where they can be pierced by stiletto heels and ground into the pavement by boots.

 By all means, find your confidantes and confide in them. It is good to have companions close by, walking alongside of you.

 But choose them carefully.
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This article appears courtesy of FineArtViews by FASO Artist Websites,
a free email newsletter about art, marketing, inspiration and fine living for artists,
collectors and galleries (and anyone else who loves art).

This article originally appeared at:
http://faso.com/fineartviews/29508/forgetting-to-turn-off-your-car-lights-is-not-the-only-way-to-drain-your-battery

For a complimentary subscription, visit: http://faso.com/art-marketing-newsletter

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